Arleigh Jenkins

Last night I had a wild hair up my ass and decided riding home from work is what I NEEDED to do.  I had multiple ride offers, the bus was running fine and I turned them all down.  My issue is excuses. I always have had excuses of why I'm not training, riding, racing, etc etc.  Turning down all those excuses I'm just getting it done. Last night was a pretty stupid night to ride the full length home at dark.   Weather.com was stating heavy winds, and torrential downpours.   I charged up an extra Light & Motion Stella that we have at work for demo to add to my light arsenal, finally rolling out at 7:15.  For the first 15 minutes my ride was warm and a little breezy.  As I rolled past Northlake Mall and up Northlake Centre Pkwy I warmed up, sweating even.  Taking a right on Alexanderana I stopped in a cemetery to pull out my rain coat, the sky was spitting rain on me randomly and I really didn't want to be caught in downpour with nothing on but spandex. Homeward bound I turned onto Statesville Rd, rolling through Huntersville and finally into Cornelius.  Right were Statesville Rd and Catawba intersect in Cornelius is where the bottom fell out of the sky.  Crazy rain and wind forced me to slow down and cautiously go forward down the bike lane on the side of Catawba.  Twice wind swept my bike 3 inches to the side, I was fighting to stay within my lane as traffic is passing by me. Taking a left on to 115 the wind was now at my back.  Aiding me home at a faster clip.  Through Cornelius and into Davidson.  I must of drawn some crazy looks as I was riding through this bicycle friendly town.  There weren't many cars out, let along blinking bikers going down the dark road.  Feeling good pushing my gear along down 115, so close to home I could taste it.  This isn't so bad I'm thinking to myself as the rain is falling sideways around me. My final stretch of road is Langtree in Mooresville.  This stretch takes me over rail road tracks, through much construction at Lowe's corporate office, over I-77 and then another mile to my development.   This stretch of road normally takes a few minutes and maybe two songs on my mp3 player. Last night this stretch of road took 15-20 minutes.  As I turned on to Langtree the wind shifted from being at my back, to being in my face.  There were moments I was spinning 120rpms to turn out only 5mph.  A slow, steady crawl home.  Trying my best to remember where all the pavement chips were from the construction.  Bracing myself for my front wheel to take a nose dive into unexpected territory as the rain is washing across the street. Crossing over I-77 the rain stops.  The wind is still pushing against me but the rain isn't whipping my face or fogging my glasses.  FINALLY I arrive to my development.  Questioning if I should reach to my back, waterproof, pocket to pull my cell phone to let Kimberlee know I'm almost home.  I turned down the thought as I knew the moment I pulled my phone out it would start pouring again. Arriving home my body ached.  Feeling like I did 3 hours at the gym instead of a 1.5hour commute home.  Abs aching from keeping my balance, arms sore from holding the bars so tightly. Last night what was I thinking?  No excuses Arleigh.   Suck it up and get on your bike, it will make you happier and feel better about yourself.  You know what?  I was right.  I'm just glad I didn't get my stupid ass run over or thrown into a ditch. I really wanted to post the video of Dorothy in the tornado, but I realize that Oklahoma has had a pretty rough stretch of tornadoes. To respect them I'm putting up this instead.  This theme is my ring tone on my Blackberry, of course last night people kept calling me so the song kept playing in my back pocket. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4kiXh8YOzk